Posted on 05/06/2010 9:48:41 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
For some flood victims shock is turning to anger, and several are making plans to sue their insurance agents. A major Nashville law firm said they have a case because their agents never told them they could buy flood insurance.
The piles of debris outside the River Plantation Condos in Bellevue point to the enormous cost of rebuilding. Almost no one there had flood insurance.
"I have some money saved," said flood victim Tommy Roberson. "I may have to take out a second loan or something."
He remembers the day he bought his homeowners insurance. He said the agent never even mentioned he could buy flood insurance.
"It would have been nice to talk about it, but we didn't," said Roberson.
Attorney David Raybin is threatening to sue several insurance agents in the wake of the flood.
"We're finding out a large number of people who were not told about flood insurance," said Raybin. "They want to sell as quickly as they can and not have a lot of claims. They say ‘okay just sign here and you're insured.'"
Raybin said insurance agents have an obligation to tell people about the government created flood insurance program.
He said it is malpractice if they don't tell people flood insurance is available to everyone and relatively inexpensive if you're not in a flood plain.
"There have been a lot of lawsuits around the country for agents not telling people about this," said Raybin.
Jeremy Hundley bought flood insurance, and thought he was covered.
"I was about as mad as I've ever been to be honest with you," said Hundley.
He could not believe his agent did not tell him he needed additional insurance to cover the contents inside his flooded home. Everything inside is lost after six feet of flood water.
"I think the agents have a responsibility to their clients and that needs to be covered because it's not clear in our minds what-so-ever. We thought we were in the clear," said Hundley.
Those in our story are not threatening to sue, but David Raybin said he thinks they would have a case. He believes a lot of people have a case because so often agents do not tell people everyone can buy flood insurance.
Ignorance is no excuse unfortunately. Now the one who purchased flood insurance and is not covered, that is a whole different story. Just claim that you are Muslim and that it is against your religion, Obama will take care of you.
Wow... Talk about a homeowner without a clue...
“The Flood-Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 made the purchase of flood insurance mandatory for federally backed mortgages on buildings located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA).
The requirement also applies to all forms of federal or federally related financial assistance for buildings located in a SFHA and affects mortgages, loans and grants for the purchase, construction, repair, or improvement of any publicly or privately owned building in the SFHA.
How it Works: Before a person can receive a mortgage, loan or other financial assistance, lenders are required to complete a Standard Flood Hazard Determination (SFHD) form to see if the building is in a SFHA.
The SFHA is the base (100-year) floodplain mapped on a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).”
If he’s inside the 100-yr. floodplain, he had to sign a WAIVER at closing. Fannie and Freddie have even stricter Flood Insurance requirements to get a mortgage.
I’ve only seen that “buy flood insurance” commercial about 50 times.
I feel bad about the flooding however I think when you get insurance you need to make sure what the policy will cover
it says and you need to ask. I know for a fact the flood insurance which comes from Fema (at least that is where we had to get ours via State Farm) tells you there are different rates one which includes home only and one that includes home and contents which is a little bit more it is on the brochure from Fema.
I applied for a policy on a new home just today. The agent made a point of mentioning the Tennessee floods and how just about any area CAN flood. I assume she made the point of mentioning this specifically because of the number of people in the SE who were flooded but told they didn’t live on a flood plain and thus didn’t need insurance.
I think I saw it once or twice before my TV floated away.
Sorry, but the idea that they just did not know is ridiculous. Maybe the insurance companies should have advised them and made profits since they would have determined that floods only occur once in 50-60 years. Of course, then the residents would have been angry for paying outrageous sums for benefits that would have thought that they would never need.... Insurers never win...but insurance holders can always sue...
I’ve seen agents sued for selling too much insurance so they might get a larger fee, but never for not selling enough insurance. An agent has no motive to sell too little. And what is the role of the consumer? Shouldn’t the consumer inquire about the chance of a flood? In So Cal, no one needs to tell us to buy earthquake ins.
When does personal responsibility kick in?
I used to handle storm water management issues as part of my engineering work in local government. Just getting people in a known flood area to understand the need to buy flood insurance was a battle. After a major flood event the typical response I got was “well, this was a 100-year storm; I don’t need any insurance for 100 years. I’ll be dead by then.” Ten years later the house would flood again.
One problem is with the term “100-year flood.” This is an old Corps of Engineers term that is misleading to non-engineers. It means that a particular flood event has a one percent probability of occurring in a given year, hence the 100-year inference.
The problem is that storms have two dimensions: intensity and duration. A 100-year storm with an average intensity of one inch per hour for six hours and a 100-year storm with an average intensity of two inches per hour for three hours will both produce six inches of rain. However, depending on where you are along a stream or channel, you will be impacted differently.
After 20 years in public works I came to three conclusions. First, some event approaching a “design year” or “100-year storm” will actually occur about every ten years. It might be a 50 year storm technically, but a 50-year storm is not half as bad as a 100-year storm; it is about 90 percent as bad.
Second, I think the flood boundaries on the federal program need to be extended to the 500-year event, with no new construction in the 500-year area and everyone inside the area now would need flood insurance. I always advised builders to set the finished floor at least one vertical foot above the flood elevation and to be sure air conditioning/heating units and septic fields were also out of the flood plain.
Third, once a house is flooded, it should not be rebuild on the same site, as it will eventually flood again. I had several conversations in my career with panicked citizens calling me at home at night to tell me the water was rising or even already in their house. It is not a pleasant conversation. Often the person calling had recently bought the house and did not understand the term “flood-prone area.”
The flood in Nashville has been estimated as being from 500 years to 1,300 years return frequency, depending on the location. Even an hour away, cities are finding they were in a 200-year storm. Many people here who lost everything were well outside the 100-year flood plain. In fact, several of the subdivisions impacted the worst were built recently under modern storm water management regulations.
By the way, I went over to HuffPost and found comments along the lines of “let them drown” and “hope this is the end of country music.” More sane posters shot those comments down, of course, but then observed that “Nashville is a blue oasis in a sea of blue” or “Tennessee has a Democrat governor, and Nashville has a Democrat mayor,” as if any of that is relevant.
We were all New Yorkers in 2001. I guess I thought our liberal friends could show a bit more compassion. I know the great majority do; it’s just that a keyboard and a user name on a blog allow the true feelings of a few to get displayed for all to see. Please pray and donate as you can to the people of middle Tennessee and surrounding states that were impacted by this major disaster.
can’t buy flood insuranc eif you are not in flood zone unless your community opts for FEMA extended flood program which Nashville did not but now does since the weekend..for 30 bucks a month or so..a conservative policy
they are so stupid...they have no idea ho very very liberal Nashville proper is
it went 70% Obama
Insurance can be extremely confusing. Almost no one who ever deals with insurance over a major loss is happy with what they eventually get.
In my case, “full insurance” left me with still about 40K outstanding. Horrid company.
What about all the people who tried to get flood insurance and couldn’t? They were either told they did not qualify or told they did not need it by their insurance agent. Apparently it is only available if you live in the 100-year flood plain. Person after person who stepped off the boats after being rescued said “we tried to get flood insurance and they told us we couldn’t.” Even in their time of need, these people did not want the public to think they had been irresponsible. Who can they sue?
A Democratic governor who is not well like by the Obama administration because he stood against several of Obama's pet projects including the healthcare plan and the jobs act. Politics at the local level, especially the city level are almost a-political. The mayor's race does not usually discuss party affliation. Also, Nashville is quite a mix new and old money, and new and old middle class. The heart of the city tends to be more liberal while the outlying areas remain conservative.
Good points about politics at the local level, particularly in Metro Nashville.
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